Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Money laundering system lets Iran bankroll terror groups, Feds say
A government task force is probing how Iran launders money through the international banking system to finance terror groups buying arms ranging from mortars to weapons of mass destruction.
The probe is focusing on the millions of dollars Iranian banks funnel through mainstream banks for the groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Taliban, the Daily News has learned.
Ordinary commercial transactions and trade financing for Iran are also under investigation by the task force comprising the Manhattan district attorney's office, the Treasury Department and the Justice Department.
Both kinds of transactions violate United Nations and U.S. sanctions against countries that support terrorism.
Banks asked by the task force to provide information on cash flows include Barclays and Lloyd's banks...
Also: Iran in spotlight over money laundering, terror financing at Paris meeting
This is another front in the war, a weapon we could be wielding better, as we touched on in passing in my posts on the Gaza banking "crisis" when Israel finally threatened to stop providing them Shekels (imagine!).
By allowing them to continue to get away with it, we make sanctions less effective and have a harder time isolating our enemies from the grease for their murder wheels. We end up bidding against ourselves as we try to strengthen our "allies" (however tenuous they may be).
